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In its more than 160-plus year history, few things have remained constant in California.  However, since the 1800’s California has taxed all classes of property the same. Thus, when the iconic Prop 13 passed in 1978, it did not differentiate between different kinds of property.

Governor Brown’s recent executive order requiring California residents and businesses to reduce water consumption by at least 25% challenges us to start changing wasteful habits and implement some easy but effective ways to conserve water.  Our drought is unlikely to end anytime soon.

The “Rich” Get Richer… The values of apartment buildings fluctuate. At a very important level that’s because they can be thought of simply as machines that generate a stream of income (called the Net Operating Income, or NOI). The thing is, as interest rates change the market doesn’t pay

Question One: I am selling my single family residence to a lovely family. Escrow is scheduled to close in 45 days. I have issued my long term tenant a 30-day notice to vacate. My tenant responded that she has lived in the house for over one year and therefore is entitled to a 60-day notice…

Do you have a way to measure your residents’ use of your property and your amenities?  Francis Chow, of Ellis Partners, who spoke at a recent Education Conference and Exposition, showed the audience why understanding touch points with your residents can be so critical to understanding your resident’s needs and how to impact their decision…

What factors can I legally consider when deciding whether or not to rent to someone? As a landlord there are certain factors that you are legally permitted to consider to accept or reject a potential tenant.  Permissible factors to consider

When your current or former tenants are looking for a new apartment, your contact information may be submitted to their future landlord as a reference. Similar to how you request landlord references and complete a background check on your applicants, it’s a chance for you to help out a fellow landlord and give them an…

This article was supposed to introduce the Institute of Justice’s (IJ) latest civil forfeiture case, involving a North Carolina convenience store owner named Lyndon McLellan who has his entire bank account – more than $107,000 – seized because, according to the IRS, he made cash bank deposits in the “wrong”

April 15 came and went and most of Americans who owed taxes dutifully paid them. Today, I thought we would look at the latest data showing who pays income taxes and who doesn’t. The numbers from 2014 may surprise you.

There’s a joke about public sector union bosses making the rounds in Sacramento lately: What happens when the California Legislature hands over a blank check to the California Teachers Association (CTA)? It’s returned the next day marked “insufficient.”